Last Updated on February 29, 2024
A lot of people have this idea that being a writer isn’t a “real job.” Those people have never attempted to write a book or an article on a subject they’d never heard about before they were commissioned and had to write it well on a deadline of two days.
Writing is a difficult, but thoroughly rewarding, career. For the creatives among us with a linguistic bent, writing is a beautiful craft – the ability to translate a wide variety of experiences into a condensed and understandable format. One that has the unique ability to cross both the abstract and the tangible thresholds.
Making a career as a writer is difficult, but the good news is that it’s accessible. You can become a great freelance writer if you can talk and explain yourself. You don’t need to be a massive reader, and you don’t need an online Masters of Journalism (though it may help). All you need is the ability to put words together, and a lot of tenacity.
Skill 1: Understanding Words
This might feel like a bit of a no-brainer and even sound a bit redundant. You understand words, you use them every day to speak and communicate. What we mean when we say “understand words” is a lot more nuanced, however. Language and its use are not merely relegated to the literal definition of words after all, it is made up of context, tone, delivery, and in the case of writing, even aesthetics.
For example, which of these sounds more inviting? Home or House? A home is where you live, where all your possessions are, where you eat meals, and make memories. A house is just a building – yet they can both mean the same thing. Likewise, which of these appears more desperate? “Can you please help me?” or “Can you please help me?” Note how the italics impart more feeling to the sentence giving it an altered meaning.
Developing your understanding of words can be done in a variety of ways. Most people will tell you that to be a writer you have to read 24/7, and while it’s true that reading and writing go hand-in-hand, it’s certainly not the only way to practice writing and develop your linguistic understanding. Watch movies and imagine how you might write certain phrases to convey the tone of the scene, or how you might describe a building. Familiarize yourself with emotional and literary contexts so that you can apply these to your writing. This is possibly the most fundamental skill of a writer.
Skill 2: Using Words
After you have a solid understanding of words and how they’re used (which is fortunately a skill that can be developed on the job), it’s time to start using them. A massive part of freelancing is getting clients, and to do this you have to market yourself. Start finding companies that regularly hire freelance writers. This usually comes in the form of marketing agencies where you will be writing content and copy for a variety of companies on a variety of topics, however, other options also include online or print magazines, universities, or news websites.
Approaching these companies typically takes the form of a query letter (or rather a query email). You may need to send a lot of these, especially if you don’t have a folio of published work. It may be a good strategy to write some free opinion pieces for online or print magazines that you can then use as a folio, or build a website for your freelance brand and start a blog to develop said folio. You can then submit this folio to your prospects (potential clients) so they can see what your writing is like – and your website will help them get an idea of if you’re the kind of person they’d like to work with.
Skill 3: Research
The first rule of doing any kind of decent writing is research. Granted, in creative writing this step can come after the fact, when you’ve gotten all your cool ideas down on paper. But when you’re writing for companies and whatnot, you’re more likely going to be writing expository pieces, or journalistic-style works. While those do come with a kind of creativity, it isn’t the kind that thrives with economics in truth.
Spreading falsehoods and misinformation is one of the worst things a freelance writer (or anyone, really) can do. When a client gives you a brief, make sure that you’re doing thorough research, and that everything you write is backed up by solid evidence.
Skill 4: Mimicking Brand Voice
Writing as a freelancer can stretch your imitative capabilities. When you’re writing on behalf of a client, you have to adopt their tone, their “brand voice.” It wouldn’t be suitable for say, Carl’s Junior to publish somber content about the circumstances of climate change would it? It would be contrary to their brand’s personality.
When you get a job on behalf of a client, familiarize yourself with how that client sounds. Look at their images, what do they convey? Read their content, how does it sound? Who was it written for, or by? Once you’re familiar with this, it may be handy to keep some notes about your observations for the editing process. Try to write according to your understanding of your client’s brand, then while editing use the noted guidelines to ensure you’ve remained consistent.
Skill 5: Persistence
Breaking out into a writing career is difficult, and freelancing can take a long time to build up a large enough clientele that you earn a living wage. Nothing will serve you so well in the industry, as persistence. The sheer commitment and stubbornness to not give up on your goal will be your greatest ally through your journey to becoming a professional writer. When you’ve gotten your 100th rejection, or when you’ve been told you just “aren’t quite right for [our] brand,” you’re going to have to dig deep to move past it and write that next query letter.
If you make it, and we certainly hope you do, it could be the most rewarding career of your life.